A selection of key statistics relating to the MotoGP grid at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.

- Marc Marquez is the first rider to start from pole at six or more successive MotoGP races since Casey Stoner in 2008 riding a Ducati. If Marquez wins the race it will be the first time that a rider has won five or more successive premier-class races from pole since Mick Doohan in 1997, on a Honda.

- Pol Espargaro starts from second place on the grid in just his fifth race in the MotoGP class, the best qualifying result by a satellite Yamaha rider since Cal Crutchlow was on pole at Brno last year.

Like many race drivers throughout the world who were youngsters in the 1990s Brazil’s, Ayrton Senna was Verizon IndyCar Series driver Simon Pagenaud’s hero. When Pagenaud was growing up in France he remembers the great battles between Senna and France’s Alain Prost for the Formula 1 World Championship.

Pagenaud was heartbroken on that fateful day when Senna was killed in a crash on May 1, 1994 at Imola, Italy, but 20 years after his death, Senna remains an inspiration to the current generation of IndyCar Series and Formula 1 stars.

Sebastian Vettel has admitted there was “something wrong” with his original 2014 RB10 chassis.

After Barcelona, where the German impressed at the wheel of Red Bull’s winter testing monocoque, it was reported that the team had discovered a ‘bend’ in the car with which Vettel struggled during the first four races of 2014.